On 21 February Bridget Phillipson, Member of Parliament for Houghton and Sunderland South, held the third in her series of constituency coffee mornings on anti-social behaviour at St Chad’s Church Hall.

The event saw over fifty local residents attend to air their views on local policing, crime and anti-social behaviour in the area.

Attendees also had the opportunity to discuss these issues with PC Dave Brown, a member of the local neighbourhood policing team.

At the meeting Bridget distributed copies of an anti-social behaviour survey she conducted to canvass the opinion oflocal people about the way in whichthe issue should be best tackled by police, politicians and community leaders.

Responding to concerns that proposed changes to police stations would leave the area more exposed to crime, residents were assured that police bases would be retained in affected areas and that future bases would have the same hours or operations and level of community access as existing stations.

Bridget explained to concerned local residentsthat budget cuts meant that Northumbria Police were facedwith a choice between reducing police stations or cutting frontline officers. The Commissioner decided to prioritisefrontline police officers so that a strong street presence can bemaintained and crime can be tackled.

Speaking after the event Bridget said:

“I am delighted that so many people from the local community have come out to express their views on the very important issues of policing and anti-social behaviour.

“Today we had over fifty residents in attendance to hear what local police are doing to combat the problem, and to find out about the proposed changes to neighbourhood policing.

I will continue to hold my coffee mornings across the constituency in order tomake sure every one of my constituents has an opportunity to make their voice heard on this issue.”

The next coffee morning in the series will be July, when Bridget and a member of the local community policing team will again hear residents’ views. If you would like to attend the next event please email Bridget through the ‘Contact Bridget’ page of this website or ring the constituency office on 0191 385 7994.